Seefcs. 309 



To take up the points in their order, the following will now be con- 

 sidered here : 



a. Preparation of the ground for the nursery. 



b. Time for planting. 



c. Seed. 



d. Planting. 



e. Replanting. 



f. Cultivation. 



g. Pruning. 



h. Time for transplanting. 



Each of these points will be considered separately. 



a. Preparation of the Ground for the Nursery. The nursery must 

 be laid out in ridges. Each ridge should be a yard and a quarter wide 

 and as long as the ground will permit, if this is hilly, or as may be de- 

 sired, if level. The ridges, in hilly ground and on slopes which run 

 from north to south, should run from east to west. Between the 

 ridges a space of a third of a yard must be left to serve as a path, and 

 at the same time as a trench for draining the ridges. 



The paths should be six inches deep ; the earth, dug from the paths 

 to give them this depth, is to be thrown on to the ridge lying to the 

 north. All the paths are to be drained by means of a deep trench 

 made on the east or the west of the land, according as this will allow, 

 and which is to run from north to south, so that the rains may never 

 flood the ridges. Care must be taken to keep the paths, as well as the 

 ditches, open. 



b. Time for Planting. The rains must determine the time for 

 planting the nursery. If planted from seed, the operation may take 

 place a month before the rainy season begins, as the seed takes about 

 six weeks to germinate, and when it appears above the ground the 

 rainy season will have already set in The rainy season generally 

 begins in April, in Soconusco ; consequently the planting of the nursery 

 may be done in March. 



The seed should be sown on a cloudy day, and it will be better 

 still to sow it when it is raining. 



c. Seeds. The seed of the coffee-tree proceeds from the fruit, 

 which somewhat resembles a berry, each fruit containing two seeds of 

 a semi-elliptical form. 



It is generally supposed that the seeds of the coffee-tree will not 

 germinate if they are dry when planted. If they are carefully dried, 

 however, that is, if the mucilaginous part which covers the seed be not 

 allowed to ferment, they will almost all germinate. It is better, how- 

 ever, to be on the safe side, and whenever it is possible to use fresh 

 fruit. Of these the ripest and largest should be preferred. 



It is better to separate the two seeds, which each berry generally 



